LE LABO City Exclusive

Some fragrances simply make you smell good. Le Labo approaches perfume differently. A scent can carry the memory of a street, a room, a season or a city you once visited. That idea sits at the heart of the City Exclusive Collection, a series of fragrances created around cities across the world.

 

The collection featured in the image includes eight distinctive scents: SHIU 25 from Beijing, OSMANTHUS 19 from Kyoto, VANILLE 44 from Paris, GAIAC 10 from Tokyo, MYRRHE 55 from Shanghai, POIVRE 23 from London, CEDRAT 37 from Berlin and MUSC 25 from Los Angeles. Rather than simply naming each fragrance after its city, Le Labo interprets the atmosphere and personality of each place through its ingredients and composition.

 

Le Labo itself began in 2006, founded by two friends who wanted to challenge conventional ideas around perfumery. After being inspired by Grasse, the historic centre of French perfumery, the brand opened its first laboratory at 233 Elizabeth Street in New York’s Nolita neighbourhood.

 

The name Le Labo means “the lab” in French, and the philosophy is reflected in the way the brand presents fragrance as something closer to craftsmanship than a conventional luxury product. Hand-blending, personalised labels and the unmistakable laboratory aesthetic became part of its identity.

 

City Exclusive takes that philosophy one step further by connecting fragrance with geography. Each scent is associated with a particular city and is normally available there throughout the year. Once a year, however, the entire collection travels beyond its hometowns and becomes available worldwide during the City Exclusive event, generally from August through September.

 

SHIU 25, created for Beijing, explores stillness and traditional craftsmanship through shiu wood, iris and olibanum, resting on warm woods. It feels calm, centred and quietly sophisticated. OSMANTHUS 19 takes its inspiration from Kyoto and the delicate Osmanthus flower, combining incense and lavender with woody and resinous tones. It captures the contrast between traditional Kyoto and its modern side.

 

GAIAC 10 is Tokyo in a much quieter form. Built around gaiac wood and four different types of musk, with cedar and olibanum, it creates a clean, restrained and deeply woody character.

VANILLE 44 interprets Paris through a darker take on vanilla. Amber, incense and woods create the structure before Bourbon vanilla appears, giving the fragrance warmth without turning it into a conventional sweet gourmand.

POIVRE 23 gives London a sharper personality. Built around Bourbon pepper, the fragrance is warm, spicy and distinctly ambery. CEDRAT 37 takes Berlin in a fresher direction, balancing cedrat and ginger with woods, musks and ambergris. The result is bright, slightly sweet and energetic.

 

MYRRHE 55 is Shanghai’s darker expression. Myrrh sits at the centre, joined by jasmine and patchouli over oud, ambergris and musk. Le Labo describes it as a chypre with a contemporary tension between old and new. MUSC 25, created for Los Angeles, combines luminous musky and aldehydic elements with vetiver, ambergris, musk and vegan synthetic civet, creating a fragrance that moves between brightness and darkness.

 

That is what makes City Exclusive more interesting than a collection of hard-to-find perfumes. It changes the question from “Which fragrance smells best?” to “Which place do you want to remember?” A bottle can become a souvenir from Tokyo, a memory of Paris or even an imaginary journey to somewhere you have never been. In that sense, fragrance becomes more than something you wear. It becomes an ไอเทม that can hold a particular moment in your life.